NSW’s new Treasurer
Andrew Constance
started out life as a sort of lobbyist but he scored his biggest political splash by slamming the door on his old ­profession.

Before entering Parliament, Mr ­Constance, 40, worked as a public and government relations consultant for Weber Shandwick and for a firm called August consulting for Microsoft in Asia. But when he got the big break last August that made him the Finance Minister, he had to make a tough call.

His predecessor
Greg Pearce
had resigned over a travel rort scandal but Mr Pearce was also under fire for his close links with the firm of Michael Photios, the Liberal lobbyist who was shilling for the insurance sector. At the same time Mr Pearce was pushing for major changes to compulsory third-party car insurance.

Mr Constance dropped the insurance reforms but then plucked victory from the jaws of defeat by publicly announcing he would not meet personally with lobbyists. “I took the individual decision to ban lobbyists from meeting with me directly," he told The Australian Financial Review in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I want to hear directly from business. I don’t want to hear it from a third party."

It was a shrewd political move that looks especially smart after the revelations at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

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Mr Constance, who became the ­mem­ber for Bega on the NSW South Coast in 2003 at 29, describes himself as a “country Treasurer". While he had a family connection with the area which he likes to stress, before winning the seat, he was a city boy. Born in Canberra, Mr Con­stance went to Canberra Grammar School and then Sydney University. At one stage he ran for South Sydney Council.

Since becoming the local member, however, he has fought hard for local causes such as fighting for the logging industry. Angry Greens at one point even painted out the sign on his electorate office to read “Andrew Conman".

Bruising talks ahead

Made minister for disabilities when the Liberals came to power in 2011 he remains an enthusiastic supporter of Labor’s National Disability Insurance Scheme which he describes as an ­economic as well as a social reform. That could put him at odds with federal ­colleagues in what are likely to be ­bruising talks about funding the scheme. He insists the federal government must stick to its deal.

Unlike Mr Baird who had 18 years experience in investment banking Mr Constance says most of his preparation for the Treasury portfolio has come in the past nine months as Finance Minister where he sat on the budget review ­committee. But one major asset is his personal closeness to both Mr Baird and to federal Treasurer
Joe Hockey
whom he says he has known for 15 years through the Young Liberal movement. That could be a key relationship as he will be ­negotiating with Mr Hockey both about widening the GST and changing the way it is distributed among the states and about Hockey’s plan to offer incentives for states that sell off government assets.

Mr Constance will have to hand down a budget in just seven weeks and Baird only last week described this as a “classic hospital pass". The job will become even harder if Mr Baird decides to push for the $25 billion sale of the state’s electricity ­network. Mr Constance does not sound like he will take too much convincing. As Finance Minister he has pursued sales of “lazy" assets such as government offices. He said on Tuesday he wanted to ­continue an aggressive policy of using ­privatisation receipts to pay for new ­infrastructure.

He is already rehearsing his lines about how selling old assets to pay for roads and hospitals adds to “quality of life". And he argues the incentives Hockey is offering for selling now are a once in a lifetime chance. “We will look for opportunities to recycle capital particularly given ­incentives from the Commonwealth." That could be a crucial pitch in elections next March.